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WSU offers free webinars for continuing education

PULLMAN — Washington State University’s Global Campus is opening many of its online learning events to the public.

Topics range from beekeeping to sign language for babies, from wine-tasting to water conservation. Each free webinar is an hour long, presented by a WSU faculty member, and listed on the school’s Global Campus Digital Academy page. Participants can comment and ask questions. Some of the upcoming topics include dream analysis and home brewing. There are also free professional development self-directed courses for many professions.

“These webinars are a great way to engage the public on topics that our faculty and staff are involved with,” said Brad Jaeckel, who manages WSU’s organic farm and is giving webinars on fall planting. “My spring and summer Soils 480 class is always open to the public, and a webinar is just another way to engage an interested group.”

The public webinars are an extension of the Global Connections program, which was created in 2012 to give Global Campus students a richer university experience.

“College is about more than classes,” said Global Campus Vice President Dave Cillay. “It’s also about access to WSU’s wide range of extracurricular educational resources, whether it be the passion and expertise of our WSU faculty or the diversity of our cultural events.”

“I like the idea of reaching a larger audience,” said food science Professor Carolyn Ross, who has given several webinars on wine-tasting. “As an educator, I think anyone who wants to learn should be given that opportunity.”

Ross said she enjoyed getting comments and questions from participants: “I felt a connection,” she said, “and liked getting that energy back from them.”

For a list of upcoming topics visit the Global Campus Digital Academy at skills.wsu.edu.